Easy as Chow Ciao!

Julia Child was right, anyone can cook. Even me! This past weekend I was able to cross something of my 30 for 30 list: cooking a 3 course meal. For me, this was definitely one of the more challenging tasks to complete because I would not consider myself as someone who cooks. I've managed to feed myself for years of course, but I've always taken the easy way out when it comes to preparing meals. Picking a dish, shopping for the ingredients, and then putting it all together for an edible meal, from scratch, seemed unimaginable. But after successfully making a delicious meal I feel motivated and inspired to cook, a little, more!

The first and main courses came from chef Fabio Viviani. His easy to follow video and recipes made cooking this meal 10 times easier with step by step instructions and his fun attitude. If you're looking for some genuine Italian recipes check out his videos on Yahoo. He will crack you up.

The Menu

First Course: Gazpacho. This was so easy to make. I made this part of the meal earlier in the day to cut down on dinner time preparation. All I needed was a blender.

Main Course: Chicken Cacciatore. At first it seemed a little scary to cook chicken and the vegetables this dish required at the same time, but it all came together so easily. Cook 'em separately and then throw them in a pot to finish cooking together-genius! I even made the marinara sauce for this dish too! No sauce out of the jar for this meal.

this mess turned into this...

Dessert: Skinny Monkey Cookies. This was actually a cookie recipe I found on Pinterest (which actually falls into another 30 for 30 goal). Baking is something I know I can handle, so I made this before hand too. To jazz up a simple cookie I bought whip cream and raspberries to make it something special. Watch out cooking world, I'm improvising!

So that was my meal, and it turned out delicious! Thanks must be given to Fabio for giving me the knowledge to cook this meal, and the man I'm dating for being brave enough to consume it, and for encouraging me to make it. I'm so glad I tackled this goal on my list and was happily surprised at how easy it was. Bon Appetite!